66 The Oologists' Record^ Septe^nber r, 192 i. 



Wagtail's nest in a hole in the quarry side just above the rails. I 



was overjoyed, as this nest contained two Cuckoo's eggs and one 



of the Wagtail's. One Cuckoo's egg was the same as I had found 



on the 14th and i6th May and the other was — joy to me — by my 



last year's bird. Here was the mystery solved at last — mother and 



daughter back to the old place and using the same nest. At this 



time we had quite a few pairs of Wagtails about, probably the young 



from last j^ear's two pairs. Nests, however, were scarce, as the 



works not pumping through shortage of coal caused the bottom of 



the quarry to flood to a depth of 14 feet, complete!}- \nping out my 



Wagtail's nesting places. I decided to rig up a few nesting places 



for them on the banks above the water line by placing a few large 



flints together, just sufficient to afford them shelter. One of these 



was readily occupied, and on the 9th June I saw six Cuckoos at 



various places on the hurdles above. While watching these I saw 



a Cuckoo leave the stones where my nest was, but there was no 



Cuckoo's egg. The Wagtails had three eggs on this da}- — 9th June 



— and four eggs, on the loth, when I looked again. On the nth I 



took up my observation post at noon. The female Cuckoo was in 



the quarry at the time with two males. The two males remained, 



and were continually being mobbed by several Wagtails. At i.io 



p.m. I saw the female Cuckoo dive into a patch of grass from a 



hurdle gate, and at 1.30 p.m. she rose and went straight to the 



hole where I had seen her enter on the 9th. Six times she entered 



and left. The other Cuckoos were still in the quarry, and at 1.40 



p.m., that is 10 minutes later, a Cuckoo entered and left the hole 



again six or seven times. The other Cuckoos were still in the 



vicinity, and I w-as called away for business reasons. I returned 



to my post at 3 p.m., and to my delight found two Cuckoo's eggs 



and one of the Wagtail, the Cuckoos being the same as in the nest 



on 4th June — mother and daughter again. 



I thoroughly searched the quarry again, but could not find 

 another Wagtail's nest. I may mention that the nest just found, 

 i.e., nth June, contained five Wagtail's eggs that morning, so it is 

 safe to assume that each Cuckoo removed two Wagtail's eggs when 

 depositing their own. Unfortunately there was a serious shortage 

 of Wagtail's nests, due no doubt to the flooded pit, but on i8th 

 June I saw a Cuckoo visit two places in the quarry, continually 

 fly-ing from spot to spot for the best part of an hour. I let her get 

 away and went straight to each place, and found a nest readily 



